Once upon a time, during the year 2012 to be exact, salacious photos of a bare-bottomed Prince Harry went viral, causing a royal scandal. Harry had been playing — and evidently losing — a game of strip poker in Las Vegas, and fellow partygoers had snapped cell phone photos of him in his royal birthday suit. Now, new details have been revealed about the incident in a documentary called Spending Secrets of the Royals. In the doc, royal biographer Katie Nicholl says that during that fun-filled weekend with his friends, Harry racked up a $38,000 bill at the Wynn hotel that he never paid, Us Weekly reports.
According to Nicholl, the Duke of Sussex tried to pay what he owed, but Steve Wynn, the hotel’s owner, refused to accept it. But others in his life were not as accepting.
As Us Weekly notes, at the time, an insider said that his older brother William was not “impressed” by Harry’s antics. Harry was a helicopter pilot in the military at the time, and a senior officer reportedly said that he would be “reprimanded” for it as well.
If you’re wondering how Harry could have racked up such a huge bill, E! News reported that he went to Vegas with a group of about six or seven boys. During that weekend, they went to multiple parties, one of which was also attended by Jennifer Lopez. A couple of lucky girls who were at a bachelorette party ended up hanging out with him.
“We were speechless,” one of them said. “We just stood there with our jaws dropped.”
“How many people can say they met and spoke to Prince Harry? This story can’t be topped,” another girl said.
Prince Harry racked up £30,000 bill on infamous Las Vegas trip – but didn’t have to pay https://t.co/40AEywwNZ7 pic.twitter.com/FVetWwFQ94
— The Mirror (@DailyMirror) February 16, 2019
At the time, stories like this one led many to believe that Prince Harry would never settle down and that he would the rebellious redheaded prince of the British monarchy for the foreseeable future. But the Express reports that he decided to change his life in 2015 after he left the military.
Now he’s married with a baby on the way. The Sun reports that his army friends have given the Duke parenting books so that he can prepare for the arrival of his and Meghan Markle’s first baby boy or girl.
“Harry’s never been in any way academic, but he’s very interested in being a good father and wants to please Meghan, so he is knuckling down,” an insider said. “The Army friends are a bit of a substitute family and are very active, capable fathers themselves.”
Seven years after the “strip poker incident,” Harry is a different man, and given his popularity and passionate focus for his charitable work, the British monarchy is better for it.